This auction was closed on August 25. Thirteen items remained unsold and were given back to the artists. Two of those items were sold later through private negotiations between interested bidders and artists. One item was ultimately withdrawn by an artist for further development. The total raised by this special event was $2154 of which $1077 will be given to the Women In Black of Belgrade and $1077 will go to the Motrat Qiriazi of Prishtin. The organizers wish to thank to all the great artists who contributed their work to this valuable cause and to all the great people who came to our events and to this web page and gave their money.

The two organizations that were chosen as recipients of the funds raised by this auction have a long record of struggle for peace, justice and humanity in the region which hasn’t seen much of it historically. Women in Black were the first, and for quite a time the only opposition group in Belgrade that opposed the war and not just the Milosevic’s failure to win it. Motrat Qiriazi were the first to bring educational projects to the rural areas of Kosovo, bringing education to women in the least developed area of Europe where most daughters in rural areas still stayed at home preparing for marriage.

Here Christie Evans, the auctioneer, presents The Painting, by Lisa Kahane, held by Isabelle Depuis, the curator. The Painting was sold, albeit for less than expected, as was the case with many other artwork, for the general lack of well-moneyed crowd that plagued the event. The war-monger ignorant western media traditional scorn of grassroots initiatives was also evident through the absence of the representatives of the press. Organizers are thankful to the artists for not making a fuss of their artwork being sold underpriced. However, the snack that Indira Kajosevic, Raccoon, Inc. co-founder, prepared for the event - gravce na tavce, a Macedonian bean dish, while shamefully cheap to make, tasted deliciously, and was very well accepted by the 50+ audience: both huge army-style pots were emptied by the end of the evening. Next time we are going to sell Indira’s cooking as well.